milligan



W. B. MILLIGAN. REVERSIBLE GAR 0R CARRIAGE SEAT.

Patented Apr. 25, 1854.

WILLIAM E. MILLIGAN, OF NEW 2031:, N. Y.

RAILROAD-CAB. SEAT.

Specificationof Letters Patent No. 10,818, dated April 25, 1854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. MILLI- GAN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in car or carriage seats which require to be reversed, as in a railroad-car seat, or in a carriage-seat, or in a conversational sofa, or in any article of a like description which either requires to be re- (5) in the end or side. Fig. 4, D is an end.

view of the seat with the back, without the shaft and without the rollers. Fig. 5, (E E) are foot bars which also act as braces to secure the end pieces steady, and which may be used with or without screw nuts. If without screw nuts the end of each may be keyed or riveted, the object being to stiffen and hold the frame together. Fig. 6, (F) is a bar extending from end to end one end of which is shown at (F). This bar aids first in stiffening the frame; second, as a rest for the seat and which may be secured in a like way as the foot bars. Fig. 7 is a bar or axle, upon which the rollers or sheaves may be made to traverse, the shoulder being so arranged that the rollers or sheaves will traverse easily.

The end pieces may be made of any description of metal, and of any variety of pattern or of wood, iron being the cheapest will be the best. The frame of the seat may also be of any description of metal or of wood. The bar which extends from end to end of the seat, and which acts as an axle for rollers or sheaves (Fig. 7) may be of metal, wrought iron of five-eighths of an inch being preferred, although the diameter or thickness may vary to correspond with the strength required. The shieves may be of any diameter required to fill the slot in the pattern, each being of sufficient strength not to be crushed by the weight of two or more persons.

The ends or sides (B), as hereinafter mentioned, may be of any description of metal or of wood, and may be made either open, as shown in the drawing, or solid, excepting the open space or slot, in which the rollers or sheaves traverse.

The foot bars (E E) may be of metal or of wood. Iron is preferable because the strongest as well as the cheapest. The bar (F) may also be made of metal or of wood. Iron is preferable for the same reason that iron is preferable for the foot bars. It will be seen that the bar F is a rest for the .seat, although the seat absolutely rests upon two sets of lugs, an end view being shown at F, F, and which extend out from the inner side of each end, and which are to be cast wtih the end. Each lug may extend out and be as wide as the constructor may require, or it may be let into the frame and secured by either a screw nut or be keyed or riveted. It will be obvious however, that the lug when cast with the end will be the cheapest and the best. The axle bar for the rollers or sheaves may be made of any metal, iron being the cheapest, and

may be of any diameter from five-eighths V of an inch upward, in proportion to the strength required. The bar is not essential, as a lug may be let into the frame at the angle, or if the frame be made of cast metal, a lug may be cast with the frame, economy being consulted. The rollers or sheaves may be made of metal or of wood. When made of wood, hard wood should beused, and lignum vitae is the best; but it will be evident that cast iron will be most economical. The frame of the seat may be in one piece of metal or in several pieces, and may be of wood or metal, and either covered with upholstery or made in any ordinary way, and when covered may be either with hair cloth or split cane or twisted flag, or any description of covering to suit the constructor, the whole forming a cheap as well as convenient seat for a car or carriage. In all cases the frame is stationary. When the seat is to be reversed, the rollers are drawn back in the slot and the back being let down forms the seat, and vice versa.

I do not claim the device of making reversible seats in which the back turns down to form the seat and vice versa, such having been used before, but-- What I claim as my invention is- Supporting the angle of the seat and day of October, in the year of our Lord back upon Ways or in any equivalent manone thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

ner whereby it is transferred from one side of the chair frame to the other in making MILLIGAN' 5 the reversal, substantially as herein de- Witnesses:

scribed. .JAMES F. SMITH,

Given under my hand this twenty-sixth DANIEL FRS. BORDON. 

